Luck by chance..

Catchy title? Well, for the Indian friends it would have worked!

After my teaser blog post, I have been wondering about what to write next. What is it that I want to share, I thought for about a week and nothing really came to my head. At first I thought I will start with some gyan on Digital Marketing, a blog dedicated to some tips and tricks around performance marketing. Then I thought to myself, if I was reading this would I continue to read it? I mean assume you are my friend and I am talking to you about technical jargons like backlinks, app store optimization, seo, adwords, etc etc etc. Would you even bother reading the next post? Probably not! So, I decided to keep the content technicality free and focus on life experiences. This way I get to re-live my life and you get to know the spicy (& not so spicy) stories.

Let me start with my first job:

I went to one of the most prestigious institutions in the country (*drumroll) – Shri Ram College of Commerce. Now, unlike how I had assumed, my college life did not really prep me up for anything substantial. The only direction it did show me was the direction of “being somebody”. The batch size was about 500+ and my peers were some of the smartest ‘almost adults’ of the country. Can you imagine the pressure one can face in such a setting? Everyone around me was a member of popular societies in college – Drama society, English literary society, Editorial team, etc. I on the other hand was just playing Table Tennis for my college. I was the captain though (because I was the senior most!) for two consecutive years and had been selected to play the university nationals on behalf of Delhi University (a.k.a DU). Was that enough? Not at all. So, I decided to join a few societies in college to get a certificate. Now that I look back, I totally think that pursuing activities because you want to fit in or be at par with others in college is one of the biggest mistake people make in college. If I got a chance to go back, I would just join for experience and learning, not for some certificate or a bullet point in my CV.

In the midst of all the hustle and chaos inside my head, I somehow discovered that post third year I have to start being someone. I have to start working, I have to start being independent – financially and personally. An independent strong person is someone I was and I fail to figure why I was still chasing being one. I think it is mostly because there was a pressure to be someone, someone with a job or an offer from one of the A-List Business Schools of the country. Once I made up my mind and convinced myself that CAT is not an exam I will be able to crack, the only option left was to get a job. As a person, I always choose easy to difficult. I am not the ‘I will be able to move the mountain’ type of person. Give me some good food, a mac, some movies and a decent (subjective) amount of money and I am good to go. Overachieve? Not really!

Going back to the college placements. The focus was always to get the highest paying job – McKinsey or Bain or one of those fancy banks. The failure to score a 70% average (first + second year marks) resulted in ineligibility for these dream companies. They are actually called “dream companies” as if dreaming was only restricted to high paying jobs. How unfair, isn’t it? Look at how our colleges mould our thinking. You seem to think that the first job will decide who you are, who you will be and who you are meant to be. It is that one giant step that will decide your fate. I was very disappointed when I wasn’t able to get through these ones, I kept thinking to myself that maybe I will be living an average life and just be a nobody. Under confidence is one of the biggest set backs when we are young.

Then came Google – my knight in shining armour. It is everyone’s dream company, right? Wrong! In my college it was one of those places where 40% of students did not apply because they paid less. Can you imagine the situation? Anyone I meet today tells me that they would kill for a job @ Google and here I was, in a college where the cream wasn’t applying because the salary wasn’t a dream for them. Anyhow, 250 students had applied and 200 had got selected after a basic english language test. When a company selects 200 out of 250, you kind of think that they want to hire people in bulk (like the Infosys and TCS of the world). I remember I got an email from my placement cell that I have been selected for the first round of personal interview when I was at home for a vacation. I was super psyched and my parents felt so proud. A little family trivia here – noone from my family was working with an American company, the only one person who was was my uncle who was settled in the US for a thousand years.

The day arrived, the first interview I was eligible for. It was 26th of October 2010 and I remember this because it is my sister’s birthday every year on that day! I had focussed a lot on presentation – I re-worked on my CV and made sure I looked good. Due to lack of funds, I bought fabric for my skirt and got it stitched instead of getting a readymade one. I was lucky enough that someone had gifted me a crisp white shirt for my birthday that year. So, there was my perfect look – crisp white shirt and a well fitted pencil skirt. I woke up that morning and it was unusual. I felt so confident and I told myself that I can do this. Somehow I felt like I was ‘someone’ and I can be someone better. Round one, round two, round three and then they told us to go home. They said they will do the final evaluation and let us know via email. I reached home (PG) at around 7:30pm and felt like I had truly achieved something that day. The rounds were difficult and my answers were bang on point. It was as if something had got into my brain and increased the efficiency. It was fabulous and still remains to be the best day of my life.

After a few days, Google sent our college a list of 8 candidates out of the 200 they had interviewed and said they are considering hiring them. When I received the email and saw that I was one of the top 8 people selected by Google, my happiness knew no bounds. I think I might have shed a few silent tears. Dramatic and perfect! The next steps were a few rounds of telephonic interview and rolling out the final offer. The telephonic rounds got done within a month, by the end of November 2010 I had done everything I could to land my first job. Then what? Well, Google did not get back for two full months.

One morning towards the beginning of Feb 2011, I was sitting alone, eating paranthas & sipping through my masala chai for breakfast at my usual place and I get this call. I don’t recognise the number and say “hello” in a very casual tone. The person at the other end was a HR executive from Google. She said, “we need to send you your final offer letter, can you please confirm your address”. All I heard was Offer Letter and jumped with joy. The parantha suddenly lost its taste and all I could think about is how awesome my life just got.

My first job was @ Google India. I was one of the 8 people from SRCC to get into Google from my college that year. The feeling still is fresh, three jobs and 5 years later. It was something else, it will always be!

Start the f*** up!

Woah! Did I just start this one with a swear word?

In my last post I talked about how ‘being someone’ was a crucial goal when I was 20. The definition of someone was quite simple – an individual with a good job and a career progression ahead. Once I started working, I was on track with respect to the goals I had defined for myself. Just like my quarterly evaluation at work, I started doing a quarterly evaluation of my personal wellbeing. It started with just simply writing down things that I wanted to own in the next three months. For example, this one time I had written that I wanted to own a branded wallet. In the next three months I had to save up enough money to be able to buy a wallet that cost almost 20% of my monthly salary. In addition to chasing my targets at work, I was doing quite well in terms of achieving my personal material targets.

The thing with targets is that they lead to bigger targets. For instance, one quarter you are able to nail everything that your manager expected you to, the next quarter he/she will increase the targets. It is how organisations work too. One quarter the sales team hits target, next quarter the target is bumped up. To think of it simply, happiness is a point from where you want more happiness. Happiness can be buying that wallet, it can be hitting your sales targets, it can be scoring A1 in your weakest subject and the list just goes on. While I was setting these bigger targets for myself every quarter, I was getting away from the real essence of my early 20s. I was focussing more on what I want next and forgetting who I want to be next. Career was progressing in the same way too. Quarter after quarter, it was just a check list.

One fine day, after I got my first promotion in the first cycle I was eligible for, I begun to think if there is more to life and career than what I am able to see. It started as a thought and soon spread like fire. This was all I could think of. I immediately realised that I am not someone who can wait for years in the same place, expecting life to be a ladder. I could not wait for promotion after promotion to do more. There was this tremendous urge to make a difference – both professionally and personally. I wanted to be somewhere more real, where it would not feel like a machine. I was happy but not satisfied with doing things within boundaries.

I am not saying that the first job wasn’t rewarding enough, it was really great, it just wasn’t for me. I knew I am not the 8am – 5pm person and I certainly did not have a great social life off work to feel content and balanced. I was a workaholic and slightly unaware of options. At this point something magical happened, one of the best startups in the country decided to offer me a job in marketing. I had applied on their career site for a sales role in a European market thinking they will never call me back and if they did, I would move to a fancy location and my foreign dreams will come true. All the incorrect reasons to apply and yet the correct outcome.

They called me for a meeting (note: startup’s don’t ever call you for an interview, it’s usually a meeting or interaction) and even after me insisting that I don’t want to do a marketing role, they just wanted to meet. I rushed back home that day and told my best friend about it. She is quite full of life and loves taking risks (unlike me!). She suggested I give it a shot, just go for the interview and so I did. That one interview changed my entire life. What followed was something spectacular, way more challenging and certainly gave me a whole new outlook. I probably haven’t ever thanked my friend for it. I think it’s time I do..

So, here’s how I make a living

Name: Shayanta Paul (popularly known as Shay these days)

Job Title: [Enter unnecessary respect] Manager, Digital Marketing

Years of experience: 5.5 years (well, almost!)

Most of you know how I landed a job in Digital Marketing. It was by chance and you can read more about it here. Can I please talk to you today about what I really do?

Let’s start with this graph:

Are you wondering what the hell is this graph saying?

• This is graph is pulled from Google Trends and basically shows how many times the term “digital marketing” has been searched over the past 5 years worldwide.
• What you are able to clearly see is how amazing the trend has been – onwards and upwards!

Let’s look at some stats now, shall we?

• In 2015, the worldwide spend on Marketing (Paid Media) was about $513.7 Billion.
• In 2016, the projection is a 5.7% increase to $542.55 Billion.
• The highest chunk of advertising dollars come from US followed by Asia Pacific
• Out of $513.7 Billion, only $148.66 Billion was spent online (via Digital mediums)!
• Ouch! That’s like less than 30% of overall advertising spent.

Digital Marketing is the buzz word these days. Even though online marketing has existed for a while (Google just turned 18!), the last few years were game changing. From websites being the primary avenue of connecting businesses to consumers, we have now moved to a world full of apps. What has changed the entire ecosystem is the introduction of social sharing. We are now way more connected than we ever were – Facebook, Instagram, Gmail, Whatsapp, LinkedIn, Gchat and many many more mediums are changing the way we interact with the internet.

I remember when I was a child, internet was a thing of the wise or rich (or both). We used Google for our school projects and created yahoo email ID just to enter the chat rooms and be able to chat with random strangers. Today, my 5 year old niece is able to use YouTube and watch her favourite cartoon. This is the extent of digitalisation. Even with the advancements and increasing Tech economy the truth is only 40% of the world has an internet connection today, the remaining 60% DON’T! Can you imagine a world without Facebook or Whatsapp or even a feature phone?

Coming back to what I do for a living, sometimes people come to me and ask if my job is to post the offline content in online mediums. It is natural to think that way specially when

• online video ad formats do the same job as ads on TV;
• static banners ads do the same work as offline hoardings;
• posts on social media do the same job as traditional pamphlets;
• remarketing ads do the same job as what telecallers do when you express interest in a product;
• content ads do the same job as what magazines do when they recommend you similar articles in the same genre

Yes, this is what I do! The only difference is that I am able to track every single view. I can tell you what time my ad was seen and what is the age/gender of the person who viewed it. I can also tell you exactly how many people clicked on my ad and bought a product unlike the TV commercials where the advertising company just hopes that the target audience is able is see the ad and later go to the store and buy.

So, do I think offline marketing is silly? Of course not! 60% of the population still do not have access to internet, they are the ones that watch TV or read the newspaper. Reaching them through mediums that actually reach them is the trick. As the worlds internet population increases, more advertising dollars will move online.

Good times ahead 😀

Do you look beyond data?

I was recently asked to share my professional experience with a bunch of people at work. My opening statement was – “I look at Performance Marketing here.” When I looked at my colleagues after I delivered my opening statement, I understood they were a little clueless about what it meant. So, I gave them a realistic and relatable follow up statement – “I spend most of the money that is allocated for marketing”. They laughed and seemed to understand (somewhat better than before).

When you are a performance marketer, data is the center of your world. Five and half years later, I enjoy numbers more than words. The way to convince me to do anything is explaining it through data. I am no mathematical wizard and cannot query in SQL but I understand and comprehend data to take important decisions effectively.

You might be thinking that the headline and what I am talking about is slightly contradictory. On one hand I am expressing my love for data and on the other asking a question on looking beyond data. Let me get to the point.

I spent my last week in Jakarta. The capital city of Indonesia is very similar to home (Delhi) in terms of population, traffic & pitch (people generally speak loudly). There was one crucial factor that made me doubt all decisions I had taken basis data – language. The primary language of communication was Bahasa. It was rare to find anyone speak any other language. Even our hotel staff was very hesitant to speak in English. I couldn’t believe that hospitality industry could run without spoken English in Asia.

When I looked at data, I saw that most people (>70%) have their browser language as English. Most people have their phone language set as English. The decision was easy – put more money in running English Ads and dedicate more effort in optimising that. I was told by colleagues that most people converse in Bahasa but since I prefer data, I saw otherwise. What actually happened was very different.

Was the data incorrect? Of course not. What the data failed to convey is that most people do not know how to change their OS language or browser language. It failed to show how most people are able to read English but does not mean they prefer/are most comfortable reading English. It missed the fact that user behaviour is not black and white, there is fair bit of grey area.

I realised how human interaction and “actual” in-market knowledge is crucial for global businesses. One size fits all does not work in real world. Technology should be built in a way that it is able to pick local intel even if there is no data to illustrate the use case in first place. I specially like how Uber asked me to choose the mall exit gate  when I requested a pickup from a mall. It’s way more effort than just adding country specific editorial content & that’s what makes them amazing.

From now onwards, I am going to look beyond data. What about you?